Nokia E72 - Enjoying the Upgrade

Nokia's New Message

Somehow, we see history repeating itself once more. A year ago, the Nokia E71 stole the thunder from its very own flagship model, the Nokia N96. That didn't came as a surprise to us, seeing as how the E71 had gotten it right with its high battery mileage, great usability and astounding looks.

This year, the Nokia N97 garnered some mixed reactions from us. As glad as we were that the N97 represents Nokia's eventual approach into the touch screen market, it came too late and had much firmware issues that marred an otherwise great experience on the flagship model. And thus, we are placing all bets on the Nokia E72. Will the E72 prove to be the definitive Nokia device for 2009, or just another addition to Nokia's ordinary line-up for the year?

We're happy to say it's actually mostly positive in our opinion, but read on for our full assessment and whether the upgrades incorporated on the E72 are ideal for you.

Tapping Away

If you haven't read our preview of the E72, we've covered most of our visual observations on that article. This time round, we'll be looking at how the E72 handles against its predecessor, the E71. The most apparent area of change would be in its aesthetic layout. Though both devices have a similar QWERTY layout, there are quite a number of subtle changes across the board.

Our first check landed on the QWERTY keyboard, and as laid out in our preview article, the change is found on the last row of keys. A shorter space bar was noticed, and it did somewhat hinder our experience ever so slightly. The individual keys on the E72 are now more squared in shape, compared to the E71's slightly more elongated keys. This translates to a more uniform layout and greater tactile feedback for our touch typing methods. With the phone's exact same dimensions, sans just 1mm thicker than its predecessor, the E72's QWERTY keyboard still gave us the same level of comfort and typing speeds as before.

Its main navigation buttons are also slightly modified, with the Home, Calendar, Contacts and Message shortcuts given more real estate space. In fact, the aforementioned buttons are no longer stuck side-by-side to the navigation pad, leaving us free from worries of hitting the shortcuts accidentally when we were moving through the menu. Phew!

One of the less noticeable changes on the E72 is the addition of an optical track pad. Sadly, the change isn't really for the better and in the E72's case, it is an option we can do without. Trying out the optical track pad for up to a full day of usage, we were dismayed at how careful we had to be when handling the phone. Though one can adjust the sensitivity of the track pad, we still had some problems navigating the menu with finger swipes. Nonetheless, this could be a case of familiarity with the good old five-way navigation pad that we loved on the E71.

Speaking of which, the five-way navigation pad is still present on the E72, albeit you might want to switch off the track pad function first before using it. The sensitive nature of the track pad would probably throw you off course when you click along the borders. We also noticed that the track pad is slightly stiffer than the center select button on the E71.

Rolling with the times, the E72 will come with a 3.5mm audio jack. Needless to say, this will be in line with Nokia's move to streamline its audio delivery via the Nokia Music Store. Similar to the E71, you'll also notice that the camera shutter button is missing, with the optical track pad acting as the said shutter button. While active, touching the track pad will prompt the camera to half-focus, and pressing it down will trigger the camera. If the track pad is inactive, then focusing is done once you press down upon the five-way navigation pad.

You've Got Mail!

As expected of an E-series device, the E72's focus will be on its messaging portfolio. But Nokia hasn't exactly forgotten its other suite of services. Off the rack, the E72 will be bundled with the usual Nokia apps such as Nokia Music Store, Ovi Store, and the latest Nokia Maps 3.0 that will utilize over-the-air synchronization with Maps on Ovi.

Undoubtedly, the core feature of the E72 is in its push email service, aptly dubbed as Nokia Messaging. Setting it up would be rather easy, since the home screen will have your email setup laid out in plain sight. The easier way, is to simply enter your email address and password as prompted by the setup. This is mostly for the common web-based accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo, where the settings have already been preloaded onto the E72 and won't require any input.

The trickier ones would be its support for Mail for Exchange and Lotus Traveller Notes. For both, you'll need to contact your system administrator for the necessary domain settings. If your contacts and calendar entries are saved on Google, you can also utilize the Mail for Exchange feature to synchronize your content via its Personal Information Management (PIM) settings. A quick tutorial can be found here for reference.

A new addition to the Nokia messaging features on the E72 is the Chat function. While this instant messaging feature was announced earlier this year, the E72 will be the first Nokia device that comes bundled with the Chat app out of the box. The major instant messaging protocols, such as Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger are included within. Nokia's own Ovi portal is also bundled within, and all four IM services can be run concurrently.

Office-related apps are also found on the E72. From what we observed, the more practical apps include a full version of Quickoffice to read and create text, worksheet and PowerPoint documents, and a Multiscan app to capture information off name cards for building your contacts base. In fact, we were pleased at the high level of accuracy from the Multiscan app. Once in a while, it did falter on some text, but not too badly. For those who wish to access their office's intranet, you can also hook up the E72 via its Intranet app, which links up to your office's network and allows you access to the server.

Performance Matters

The E72 will have big shoes to fill when it comes to performance, and thankfully there are lots of improvements in this area. First up - the user interface seems much smoother and faster than its previous iteration. We will attribute this to an upgraded ARM 11 600MHz processor within the E72, and for our few days of usage, we didn't note any visible lag on the interface. However, certain apps downloaded from the Nokia Ovi Store seemed to crash on the E72 occasionally. This is more of a firmware issue, for both the app and the device which should be eventually sorted out.

With a similar screen size to the earlier E71, the E72 isn't exactly what one might call a great video player. Though videos were sufficiently clear and had minimal frame rate issues, our eyes had to struggle to get any details out of the video. Luckily, the 3.5mm audio port was a good entertainment alternative, with a good balance of bass and treble from our test tracks,

Although web browsing would still be slightly limited due to its 2.36-inch screen size, the biggest draw (in our opinion) with the E72 is its upgraded HSDPA speeds. On paper, the E72 is capable of 10.2Mbps downlink speeds, and though we can't attest to the actual speed, we did feel a significant improvement in web browsing speeds.

Moving to imaging quality aspects, our earlier preview showed up some pretty decent imaging qualities from the new 5-megapixel sensor. This time round, we put it through the usual lab tests that include our resolution and color charts.

The E71 was known for its extensive battery life, one of the reasons it scored much brownie points with us. For the E72, we once again subjected it to our battery test, which consists of a test video of 320 x 240 resolution running repeatedly with the E72's screen brightness and volume at 100%. The usual wireless features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were activated with a constant web page being refreshed to ensure constant connectivity.

Looking across Nokia's Symbian lineup, we noticed that the E72, which is based on the Symbian S60 3rd Edition OS, has lived up to its predecessor's fame at battery mileage. At nearly the six hour mark, the E72 finally put itself to sleep and proved its capability as a device of great stamina. Against the HTC Touch Pro2 with a similar battery capacity, it's not surprising that the E72 will have the advantage. But forget not that the E72 is running at a lower screen resolution and has a smaller screen, both of which would directly aid in its power efficiency.

Toss in its slim form factor, and it's almost apparent that no other device can come near the E72's portable nature. Compared against Nokia's Symbian S60 5th Edition devices such as the Nokia N97, it would seem as if Nokia has managed to get the perfect balance for the 3rd Edition non touchscreen Symbian devices. But change is necessary, and in the near future, the onus is upon the Finnish company to get everything ripe and ready for the S60 5th Edition OS.

A Successful Successor

Well, what else can we say that wasn't already conveyed in the review? Simply said, Nokia got it right again. What they did with the E71 was all kept intact on the E72. Ok, so the optical track pad isn't exactly our best friend, and a smaller space bar does slightly hinder our typing speeds. But don't take it the wrong way; we still prefer the E72's QWERTY keyboard for its improved tactile feedback and great layout over other devices and its constricted keyboards.

On the bright side, you'll get more features on the E72 than before. The 3.5mm audio jack and a keyboard with greater tactile feedback are just some of the improvements upon the new E72. Of late, the real deal for most mobile devices is always mostly hidden within. The E72's hidden gem is primarily the Nokia Messaging client. As part of the E-series offering, Nokia Messaging will be a great boon for those who yearn for constant email pushed to their mobile device. And it won't be a chore with its easy setup for the popular email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail).

The E72 did feel faster and more responsive than its predecessor thanks to improved processing hardware. Yet, the occasional crash from installed apps on the Symbian OS could deter one from truly falling in love with the E72. But most importantly, our deeply entrenched preference for the E72, is once again its impressive battery mileage even for its slim and sleek proportions.

Now, the question is - should the E71 owners even consider the next upgrade? Some users have always dreaded the use of a 2.5mm audio port which limits their own accessories, and the E72 should solve that problem with its 3.5mm audio port. Of course, there's also the question of whether you need the faster speed, in both the user interface, and downlink speeds at up to 10.2Mbps (the E71 is capable of up to 3.6Mbps speeds). The last, but probably the least of your considerations, is if you'll need the improved 5-megapixel sensor for imaging purposes.

Once you have those questions answered, the final one that awaits you is if you'll be willing to pay S$750 (without contract) for the E72. Lump in a subsidized pricing when bundled with a telco conract, and looking back at the E71's starting price of S$798 over a year ago, we think the E72 is quite a steal for those who are going for the upgrade. Even more so for those who've yet to snag an E-series Nokia phone, there's no better time than now with the new E72.

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